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Chapter 2: Review of Literature

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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Research works are better recognized through the literatures generated. Literatures

could be of immense help to a researcher while arriving at the objectives of his study and

determining the way for the intended investigation. A methodical look at the relevant

literature keeps a researcher abreast with the recent developments in the field of research. It

also helps in avoiding duplication, thereby saving scarce resources. An intense review of

the available literatures in the domain of the research becomes an integral part of any

scientific investigation. Tourism is an age old activity associated with civilized nations.

Thus, tourism literature too has a long history. However, there are few areas in tourism

which have come to the domain of scientific investigation only recently. Spiritual tourism

is one such area in which only a few researchers have started their work in a systematic

way. The following sections present an analysis of the available and relevant literatures in

the field of spiritual tourism with special emphasis on the Uttarakhand state of India. It was

attempted to identify the gaps in the existing literature in order to carry out further

investigations in the area.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world. According to the World Travel

and Tourism (WTT) Council, tourism and travel have become a global industry and is

widely considered to be one of the fastest growing industries (World Travel and Tourism

Council, 2006). India is fascinating with its ancient and complex culture, dazzling contrasts

and breathtaking natural beauty. With the great potential available and the development

initiatives taken by the government, Indian inbound tourism has shown a substantial

growth in the last decade which has been the best in the history of Indian tourism. India


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has become one of the major international tourist destinations because of its series of

marketing initiatives including the current and highly successful ‘Incredible India’

campaign. In this context Uttarakhand state is a unique tourist destination with excellent

opportunities for development of a diverse range of products involving nature, spirituality,

adventure, leisure etc. to satisfy a tourist’s desire. Uttarakhand state promotes ‘spiritual

tourism’ through its religious diversity and heritage as well as health and well-being

techniques such as yoga, meditation and ayurveda.

Tourism ranks as the largest industry in terms of employment. Tourism industry,

regarded as a smokeless one, has been growing and flourishing as an organized industry.

Several authors, however, contradict tourism to be an industry, for, ‘tourism offers

complementary rather than competing products and services’. Accordingly, they prefer to

call it as an activity instead of an industry (Ghosh, 1998). Some authors, on the other hand,

term it ‘tourist system’ in place of ‘tourist industry’ (Negi, 1998). Nevertheless, tourism is

primarily about human activity, which involves travel from an originating area to a

destination for pleasure or business purposes. This simple phenomenon embraces cultural,

economic and social exchanges in the process. As an industry, the impact of tourism is

manifold. Tourism industry nourishes a country’s economy, stimulates development

process, restores cultural heritage, and helps in maintaining international peace and

understanding.

Tourism has become the second largest foreign exchange earner for the country. In

terms of visitor numbers, now India is 11th among Asia Pacific countries. The tourism

industry in India has shown healthy signs of growth in the recent years. In 2004, India

ranked 47th in the world tourist arrivals with around 3.46 million tourist (Ministry of

Tourism, 2007) visiting the country. Moreover, foreign exchange earnings from tourism

have been increasing at a gradual rate.


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India, a land of diversities, has a varied tourism resource base to offer its visitors.

Both domestic as well as foreign tourists have thronged various tourist spots that adorn

almost every nook and corner of the country. While some tourist spots have emerged as

prime ones, drawing numerous visitors from around the world, it goes without saying that,

the country is yet to realize its true potential it has to offer to the visitors. Foreign tourist

arrival in the country has been growing steadily for the past few years. Realizing the

immense potential that India has to offer, the ministry of tourism has embarked on an

ambitious plan to promote India to the foreign tourists. The “Incredible India” as well as

“Atithi Debo Bhava” campaigns have generated immense success in the recent years.

2.1.1 Tourism and Tourist

International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism defined Tourism in terms

of particular activities selected by choice and undertaken outside the home environment

(Wheeler, 1995). Tourism, as viewed by Smith (1992), is an activity dependant on three

operative elements– discretionary income, leisure time and social sanctions permissive of

travels. Leiper (1979) defines a tourist as a person making a discretionary, temporary tour

which involves at least one overnight stay away from the normal place of residence,

excepting tours made for the primary purpose of earning remuneration. Tourists are the

focal human element of tourism. The author further divided the tourist activity into two

components– “a dynamic element– the journey, and a static element– the stay”. Spatially,

tourism involves three elements. There is an origin or tourist generating region, the place

where tours begin and end (home). There is a tourist destination region or host locality,

where tourists stay temporarily. Thirdly, there is a transit region or route which connects

the two and through which tourists travel. A basic model of tourism systems proposed by

Leiper (1979) is shown in Figure 2.1. It incorporates an arrangement of multiple elements

and facets of tourism, viz. geographical, behavioural, industrial and environmental.


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Figure 2.1 The tourism systems (Leiper, 1979)

Tourism covers all tourism related activities like hotel industry, tour and travel

operators and transport like air, rail and road. Other industry/services that act as a support

mechanism or facilitate service for this target industry also needs to be included. The

tourism activities are multidimensional and can be undertaken only with the help of other

goods or services. They generate income and employment in the economy. Travel and

tourism activity mainly include -

a. Travelling to destination

b. Accommodation at destination

c. Recreational activities

In 1976, Tourism Society of England defined it as "Tourism is the temporary,

short-term movement of people to destination outside the places where they normally live

and work and their activities during the stay at each destination. It includes movements for

all purposes." Cohen (1979), however, argued against the tendency to over generalize, to

propose universal models and to conceive the dynamics of tourism as a unilinear process.

Instead, the author favoured a multiplicity of types, different typologies and a multilinear

approach to the dynamics of tourism.


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The structure of the industry varies according to the linkage parts of tourism

activity. Even a single activity is a part of the tourism industry, e.g. booking agents, tour

operators, hotels providing only accommodation, etc. Elements of all types of market can

be seen at different points of the tourism activity chain. Planning policies are done

according to the type of market structure. Figure 2.2 presents such a tourism activity chain

that incorporates important elements of a common tourism system.

Figure 2.2 Tourism activity chain (adapted from Mukhopadhyay, 2007)

2.1.2 Tourism in Uttarakhand

Tourism has become a competitive industry in the Uttarakhand state of India in the

recent years. The location of the region and its richness in biodiversity has become a place

of attraction for tourism industry. This state has the state-of-the-art infrastructure so as to

develop tourism industry to its best. Uttarakhand being the land of hills, mountains,

plateaus, rivers, forest and varieties of exotic flora and fauna attracts large number of

foreign tourist to this land. According to a report by Dixit (2005), tourists visiting

Uttarakhand can be categorized into three major categories. These tourist classes are: (i)


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Pilgrims / Religious tourists, (ii) Pleasure tourists / Holiday Makers, (iii) Special interest

tourist / Adventure and Nature Lovers.

Ryngnga (2011) focuses on the measures needed to be taken by the Government of

India to identify tourism as a priority sector and promote tourism in the different regions of

the country. Uttarakhand featured in the eighth position in the top ten states in India in

terms of number of domestic tourist visits (in millions) during 2009, a list topped by the

state Andhra Pradesh, which incidentally hosts a number of famous spiritual places. The

Table 2.1 shows the rank of Uttarakhand state in terms of number of domestic and foreign

tourists respectively in the year 2009, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of

Tourism, Government of India. The Table 2.1 indicates that the domestic tourists have

better interests toward this state. The state, on the other hand, closely follows the national

annual growth rate, it is clearly revealed.

Of the many tourists coming to Uttarakhand a striking figure come for spiritual

tourism. The projected forecast for foreign tourist visits by 2012, 2017 and 2020 in

Uttarakhand are estimated at 0.227 million, 0.399 million and 0.703 million respectively

by a survey conducted by Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board.

Table 2.1 Domestic (D) and Foreign (F) tourists in Uttarakhand state during 2007-2009 (Tourism statistics at a glance, 2009)

2007

(million)

2008

(million)

2009

(million)

Annual Growth

Rate 2008/2007

Annual Growth

Rate 2009/2008

% share in 2009

Rank in 2009

D F D F D F D F D F D F D F

19.803 0.096 20.546 0.1 21.935 0.106 0.38 0.41 0.68 0.66 0.34 0.8 8 15

2.2 DEVELOPMENTS IN TOURISM RESEARCH

Today, tourism industry has become a real threat for the core manufacturing sector

industries in the recent times. As a result, researches in this area have also been observed to


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be increasing. Hamilton-Smith (1987), proposed a conceptual framework relating tourism

to humane leisure. There has been a considerable number of published literature on

concepts and scopes of different aspects of tourism. An early seminal contribution to the

basic economic analysis and theoretical and applied approach as applicable to the tourism

sector is highlighted by Mukhopadhyay (2007). Crouch and Ritchie (1999) studied the link

between societal prosperity and tourism using a competitiveness framework. The authors

also proposed a conceptual model to demonstrate the links. Crouch (1999) in his study

found that each society is faced with the decision of how best to provide for the well-being

and quality of life of its citizens. The study also examines the ability of a tourism

destination to contribute to the economic prosperity that provides the concept of quality of

life.

In an earlier work, Leiper (1979) went one step further and proposed a framework

for the general study of tourism that could be applicable for several sectors like academic

research, education, business and government arenas of tourism by using economic,

technical and holistic approaches. Likewise, Oh et al. (2007) proposed a measurement

model based on four realms developed by Pine and Gilmore (1999) which is applicable to

lodging. The authors demonstrated how the measurement scale can be further refined for

adoption by destination marketers. Performance measurement is applied to some extent in

tourism research. In a classical work on ethical aspects of tourism, Wheeler (1995)

observed that ethical marketing of tourism products advocates promotion of destination to

attract larger number of tourists. The concept of ‘authentic–seeking’, considered within the

context of tourism and focusing on the opportunity for Scotland was well discussed by

Yeoman et al. (2007). While working on a different approach, Tribe (2008) explored new

ways of mounting virtual exhibition in tourism art. This new innovative method is called

“virtual curating” which is applied to interrogate written texts.


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The tourism industry has been analysed in a holistic manner through distribution

channel perspectives by various authors (Laws, 1997; Halloway, 1998; Middleton and Clark,

2001; Mill and Morrison, 2002; Yilmaz and Bititci, 2006) in their recently published works.

The authors claim ‘there is no attempt in the tourism management literature proposing

frameworks or models, which can assist the tourism companies, evaluate and control the

overall tourism value chain’. They have proposed a value chain model for performance

measurement in tourism that would allow various players to communicate and coordinate

their processes and activities in a more mature manner. Jurowski and Olsen (1995) used

content analysis approach to identify patterns of activity that exist in the context of general

environment of the tourism industry and possible trends emanating from this environment

which would influence the tourism industry in the near future. The significant trends

identified by the authors include- (i) more precise targeting and aggressive marketing, and

(ii) greater use of technology in marketing and servicing tourists.

Tourism promotion is considered essential for successful tourism development. The

tourist inflow, both domestic and international, for various purposes like pleasure,

environmental change, and religious/spiritual purpose has increased significantly in the

recent times. Accordingly, there has been a phenomenal rise in the academic research

activities on marketing of tourism. Many authors have invariably analysed the

psychographic and demographic profiles of tourists and their perception about the

performance of various tourism services. It is seen that in tourism research, a considerable

emphasis has been focused on marketing of tourism (Haywood, 1990; Middleton, 2001).

However, Wheeler (1995) observes that only little attention has been paid towards ethical

marketing of tourism products. The author observes ‘the trend has been to look at

definitional aspects of tourism marketing which has been followed by prescription towards

the management processes’. Williams (2006) admits that marketing is clearly essential for

successful tourism and hospitality development; however, ‘it is often overlooked’.


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Calantone and Mazanec (1991), while addressing different marketing management

issues, have presented a detailed analysis of role of marketing management in tourism. They

have highlighted the need of management and information analysis tasks of the service

providers in tourism like various business and government organizations. Hu (1996) have

analysed at length the diverse developments that are taking place in travel and tourism

marketing and categorized these developments into different themes and sub themes. A

summary of the developments in travel and tourism research, as presented by Hu (1996), is

illustrated in Figure 2.3. Major themes and trends evolving in the tourism industry have also

been reviewed and discussed by Eccels (1995). The author observes tourism development as

a way of improving country’s economy and social well being and underlines the need to be

proactive so as to stop potential tourists migrating to competing destinations. Thus, the

organizations must spend more of their business time focusing on marketing, and in

particular promotion. The author has attempted to classify the major themes as –

destination planning, marketing and promotion, new products, sustainable tourism and

transport. He further identified the key challenges faced by the tourism industry that would

potentially affect the industry’s future operations. In an increasingly complex global market

system, it is observed, tourism needs to adopt societal marketing strategies that facilitate

regional development (Buhalis, 2000). Issues in national marketing strategies in tourism

have also been addressed (McCleary, 1987; Riege and Perry, 2000).

It was reported that tourism became an effective means of earning foreign exchange

owing to implementation of their sound marketing plans for tourism. Riege and Perry (2000)

have presented different approaches in formulating National Marketing Strategies of a

country based on a study carried out regarding marketing of Australia and New Zeland. A

general framework for national tourism marketing has been presented by McCleary (1987).

The author has provided a ‘Step by Step’ checklist for marketing a country’s tourism. Dutta

(1991) had emphasized the importance of tourist product mix planning and identified the


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variables for market segmentation. Williams (2006), in a recently published work, has

proposed a framework as to how organizations might usefully implement an experiential

marketing strategy.

Figure 2.3 Diverse developments in travel and tourism (Hu, 1996)

Different marketing paradigms and response of the Indian firms in the context of

changing challenges have also been addressed. An investigation based on studies

conducted in the geographic domain of two Indian industrial cities – Coimbatore and

Tirupur in Tamilnadu state has been reported by Muthiah (2006). The choice of program

orientation is deeply related to the general orientation of a tourist enterprise and with the

quality of organizing. Ilieska (2002) studied in details regarding the relationship between

the level of marketing organizing and program orientation of a tourist enterprise and

developed various promotional tourism activities for strategic marketing management in

tourism. Stokes (2008) explored the strategy making concept as applied to planning event

tourism.

Papadopoulos (1989a), while presenting a conceptual model on tourism marketing

planning, observes that for a national tourist organization to achieve its objectives and meet

Travel communications Strategic Marketing: strategic alliances

Technology advances:

Information technology:

Success of travel and tourism marketing

Better understanding of tourists ?

Behaviour modeling methods Travel patterns

Economic psychology:

Decision –making process:

Tourist choice behaviour:

Market segmentation


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conditions in a rapidly changing environment, a well coordinated tourism marketing

planning process is vital in order to survive and prosper in the tourist industry. Papadopoulos

(1989b) further emphasizes for a holistic view of the many variables affecting tourism

marketing, and believes a heuristic approach is necessary to assess the implications,

importance and effectiveness of potential tourism marketing strategies and tactics in dynamic

situations. Various aspects of tourism marketing and promotion have also been investigated

(Morgan and Pritchard, 1998; Buhalis, 2000; Echtner and Prasad, 2003; Hannam, 2004).

Many researchers (Chaudhary, 2000; Enright and Newton, 2004; Swain, 2006; Das et al.,

2007) have reported the importance of tourism destination marketing with the help of

domain specific data and relevant analysis. Hannam (2004) further examined the production

of destinations and experiences through tourism marketing. The author analyzed the role of

communication media including internet for destination marketing. Haywood (1990)

examined the marketing concept and suggested revisions underlying philosophy to tourism

marketing, organizational strategy and structure. Use of tools and techniques for planning a

country’s tourism marketing was proposed by McCleary (1987). A general framework for

national tourism marketing has been presented by the author.

Calantone and Mazanec (1991) presented Macro-level analysis of management

literature philosophies and micro-level analysis for tourism research through application of

different analysis tools. Major variables for segmentation in the Indian tourism market

were identified more than a decade ago by Dutta (1991) which affords a framework for

product mix planning. Postcolonial theory was used as a critical, contextual perspective to

interpret the patterns of different marketing images occurring across the destinations

(Echtner and Prasad, 2003). The authors outlined the analysis of brochures representing

different Third World countries. “Electronic Word-of-Mouth (WOM)” has been coined to

describe a potentially cost effective mean for marketing hospitality and tourism by Litvin

et al. (2008). The authors pointed out its pragmatic importance and proposed a conceptual


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model of WOM. The strategy making concept as applied to planning event tourism has

been outlined by Poria and Ashworth (2009). The authors also examined the role of

heritage attraction sites and experiences for promotion of tourism.

Tourism destination marketing has been considered vital in the changing competitive

marketing environment. Chaudhary (2000) has reported its importance with the help of

domain specific data and relevant analysis. Wong (2009), focused on the relationship

among tourist risk perception, tourist knowledge and hesitation. Camprubı´ (2008) presents

a new approach to the induced tourism image formation process focusing on destination

relational network. He further presented a conceptual model on image formation process.

Theoretical analysis involving different issues in formulating strategies for destination

marketing is outlined (Buhalis, 2000). Synthesis of different marketing models and

relationship between marketing and planning of destinations and their conflicting and

symbiotic relationship was focused. Gallarza et al. (2002) focused on concept and

measurement of destination image. The study also proposed a conceptual model of tourist

destination image within an intra disciplinary marketing perspective.

Beerli and Martin (2004) go hand in hand to develop a model that explains the post

visit image of a destination. Enright and Newton (2004) proposed a model on ‘Tourism

Destination Competitiveness’ based on studies performed in the city of Hong Kong.

Cracolici and Nijkamp (2008) attempted to assess the relative attractiveness of competing

tourist destinations on the basis of individual visitor’s perception regarding a holiday

destination. The authors also highlighted the need to use micro and macro data to analyse

tourist attractiveness. Dey and Sharma (2007) adopted a factor-cluster segmentation

approach for segmentation of tourists while Franch et al. (2008) have presented new

approaches for established destinations to offer in an innovative and sustainable way.

Dwyer et al. (2009) on the other hand identified five global drivers of tourism change and

studied their influences on changes in the tourist values and attitudes. The relationship


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between involvement and place attachment was examined by Gross and Brown (2008)

based on a survey conducted in five South Australian tourism regions. The study also

developed and tested a structural model that measures predictive relationships between the

constructs of involvement and place attachment. Jamrozy (2007) developed a sustainable

tourism marketing model which focuses on sustainability, economic viability, social equity

and environmental protection. The author suggests a shift in the tourism marketing

paradigm away from economic profit priorities toward sustainability. Song and Li (2008)

analyses the published studies on tourism demand modeling and forecasting since 2000

and commented that there is no single model that consistently outperforms other models in

all situations.

Mohsin (2005) attempted to correlate tourists’ attitude and destination marketing.

The study was conducted based on responses of tourists regarding Australia’s Northern

Territory and Malaysia. An investigation on the significance of transport infrastructure as a

factor in destination development, showing it to be part of the classical demand for

international tourism functions was carried out by Khadaroo and Seetanah (2007). The

authors have also cited the infrastructure base of a country as a potential determinant of the

attractiveness of a destination. A neural network based approach for content analysis was

used to measure destination image from a phenomenographic post-positivist perspective in

an online survey (Govers et al., 2007). Hsu et al. (2009) have presented a case based study

which identifies the factors that influences the tourist’s choice of destination. Authors

proposed a 4-level Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model and used fuzzy set theory

for evaluating and ranking the destinations.

The measurement of customer service is one of the most important variables that a

company has to manage. While accurate measurement of customer service is important, of

even greater importance is making the measurement effectively, so that results can be used

to improve business operations. Baggs and Kleine (1996) developed a number of


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measurement methods for measuring customer satisfaction which has become an

increasingly important factor for successful business operation today. Service quality,

customer satisfaction and value are three elements that many managers in service firms

would gladly profess to be striving to provide to their customers. Caruana et al. (2000)

identified instruments to determine whether value plays a moderating role between service

quality and satisfaction. The authors developed a model and hypotheses of the

interrelationships and identified measures for it; results were reported, discussed and

directions for further research indicated. Camarero and Rojas (2008) analysed a specific

aspect of marketing applied to cultural tourism, art and cultural exhibitions, and focused on

the formation of visitor satisfaction.

Nicoulaud (1989) stated that given the rapid growth of the service sector, there

always exists a need for research due to the characteristic difference in services and the

needed changes are always planned in the light of changing market expectation and buying

behavior. Ruston and Carson (1989) felt that the service marketing practitioners are

uncertain and unsure about certain aspects of marketing operations because the customer’s

evaluation opinion regarding the service quality is not available in advance before its

conception. Therefore, a regular survey of service quality has been suggested for updating

the service.

2.2.1 Forms of Tourism

Different types of tourism have been identified from the point of view of individual

preferences, likings and differences. Tourists represent a heterogeneous group with

different personalities, preferences and inclinations, having different attitudes, aptitude and

interests. They love, relish and admire different situations and are at variance in likings.

Based on the forms, nature, preferences, purposes, etc., tourism can be divided in the

categories as discussed below.


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i) Domestic Tourism and International Tourism: Tourism is classified world wide

as domestic and international based on the nationality, citizenship and geographical

distinctions. Travelling of people within the boundaries of the country of their

nationality or citizenship refers to domestic tourism. There are no passport and visa

requirements, and there are hardly any currency and language implications in domestic

tourism. In contrast, travelling of people outside the country of their nationality or

citizenship is referred to as international tourism. This form of tourism entails passport,

visa, language and currency implications. However, because of liberal policies adopted

by some countries, domestic and international tourism is becoming indistinct in many

parts of the world. Compulsions in respect of passport, visa, etc., have been waived

between the member countries of the British Commonwealth, European Economic

Community and between America and Canada. Similarly, citizens of some European

countries and Japan do not need visas to enter USA. This largely depends upon the

friendly, diplomatic and economic relationships developed by the countries.

ii) Independent Tourism and Inclusive Tourism: Based on the attitudes and

preferences of tourists, tourism has been identified as ‘independent tourism’ and

‘inclusive tourism’. In independent tourism, the tourist moves on his own, lining up

his travel, accommodation, etc., fixed by himself or by his travel agent. In contrast, the

inclusive tourism, better known as package tours, involves travelling in a group. In

inclusive tourism, a tourist buys a trip to a certain destination inclusive of all expenses

with regard to transport, accommodation, meals, sightseeing, etc., except the

expenditure made by him on his personal interests. Inclusive tourism facilitates tourist

travel economically.

iii) Long-haul Tourism and Short-haul Tourism: Keeping in view the length factor

of the journey, tourism is divided into two types, which are termed as long-haul and


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short-haul tourism. Travelling comprising more than 5,000 kilometers is said to ‘long-

haul tourism’ and below that it is known as ‘short-haul tourism’.

iv) Mass Tourism and Small-scale Tourism: Tourism has also been classified as

mass tourism and small-scale tourism. ‘Mass Tourism’ refers to participation of a large

number of people in tourism, which refers to the level and type of interaction of tourists

with the destination, having a major impact upon it because of the sheer scale of the

industry and the nature and size of the consumer. In contrast, small-scale tourism

implies smaller participation of people having a reduced impact upon the destination.

v) Leisure Tourism and Professional Tourism: From the point of view of the

purposes of visit, tourism has been categorized as leisure or recreational tourism and

business or professional tourism. Leisure or recreational tourism comprises travelling

to enjoy holidays, sports, cultural pursuits, visiting friends and relatives. Business or

professional tourism includes travelling connected with meetings, conferences,

business and specific missions. Other tourism comprises travelling associated with

study, health and for rejuvenation purposes.

vi) Other categories of Tourism: In the recent years, different other categories of

tourism have also been reported. These include: (a) Ethnic Tourism, (b) Cultural

Tourism, (c) Historical Tourism, (d) Eco-Tourism, (e) Environmental Tourism, (f)

Recreational Tourism, (g) Rural Tourism, (h) Rail Tourism, (i) Wellness Tourism, (j)

Pilgrim Tourism, (k) Medical Tourism, (l) Sex Tourism, (m) Spiritual Tourism, (n)

Business tourism, (o) Health tourism, (p) Rural tourism, (q) Nature tourism, (r)

Adventure tourism, (s) Sustainable tourism, (t) Golf-tourism, (u) Agro-tourism, (v)

Space tourism, (w) Village tourism, (x) Wedding tourism, (y) Airline tourism and (z)

Volunteer tourism.


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2.2.2 Classification of Tourism Literature

Most of the literatures in the area of tourism studies are geo-specific (case study

based). Many aspects of the area are yet to be explored well. Many authors have presented

detailed reviews of tourism literatures and classified them from different perspectives. Few

typical classifications as reported by various authors are presented.

A review of different literature appearing in the ‘Journal of Tourism Management’

(during the period 1989 – 1994) focusing on five prime themes has been presented by

Eccles (1995). The author has attempted to identify the trends evolving in the tourism

industry and hence classified the tourism research into five major themes, namely – (i)

destination planning, (ii) marketing and promotion, (iii) new products, (iv) sustainable

tourism and (v) transport. Hu (1996), on the other hand, has identified five main themes in

the research of tourism. These five basic themes– economic psychology, market

segmentation and travel patterns, strategic marketing, technological advances and travel

and tourism communications have been categorized based on a detailed review of

literatures on developments in travel and tourism marketing appearing in the ‘Journal of

Travel and Tourism Marketing’ over a period of four years (1992 – 1995). In an analysis of

174 research articles published in the issues of ‘Travel and Tourism Analyst’ published

during the period from1989–1994, Costa (1995) has identified four main themes based on

their importance and recurrence during the period of analysis. These themes include (a)

Airline industry studies, (b) Hotel sector studies, (b) Outbound travel studies, and (d)

Tourism industry studies. The author has also highlighted the issues for further research in

the areas. Hing and Dimmock (1997) have classified the literatures that appeared in three

major tourism journals in the Asia Pacific region, namely-‘Journal of Tourism Studies’,

‘Tourism Recreation Research’ and the ‘Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research’ from

1989 to 1996 including both the years into five major themes. These themes are – Tourist


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markets, Tourist Flows, Tourist Development, Sustainable Tourism Development, and

Social, economic and cultural impacts of tourism.

The tourism industry has been witnessing remarkable changes with the changes in

the social system. This has been reflected in the types of researches and related

publications from time to time. The industry has evolved into such a broad sector that,

today, even health-care related travels, religious travels etc. are recognized as some of the

most promising tourism sectors. Considering the classical approaches, and with a view to

accommodate the emerging areas of tourism, an overall classification of the literature and

development in the areas can be made as presented in the Figure 2.4.

Figure 2.4 A general classification of tourism literature.


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There has been a substantial growth in the tourism industry in the last two decades

(Aggarwal et al., 2008). Tourism industry got benefited by the increasing interest and

number of tourists in diversified activities which were hardly known to be associated with

tourism. Although, it is a century old practice that people across the globe travel for

pilgrimage and/or spiritual activities, however, only during the last few decades, these

activities were recognised as part of the tourism industry. In the recent years, people have

started travelling vigorously for purposes like getting treatment elsewhere, getting married

at a place of their choice, or to enjoy the thrills associated with adventures. Such sector-

based activities are on the rise substantially. Obviously, such activities create business

opportunities in the place of happenings and have proved to be significant revenue earners.

Consequently, research works and analysis of different aspects (infrastructure, marketing,

economics etc.) associated with such activities have also been reported. This has resulted

in few highly potential segments in tourism research. These segments include adventure

tourism (Weber, 2001; Williams and Soutar, 2009), cruise tourism (Kwortnik, 2008), eco-

tourism (Stoneman et al., 1995), event tourism (Getz, 2008), medical tourism (Connell,

2006; Michelle, 2009), sex tourism (Oppermann, 1999), special interest tourism (Trauer,

2006), volunteer tourism (Sin, 2009), wedding tourism (Johnston, 2006), cultural tourism

(Mehta, 2005) and rural tourism to name a few. However, researches in these areas are still

in infancy. As the major focus of the present research is spiritual tourism, further

discussions on the above mentioned areas of tourism have been avoided here.

2.3 SPIRITUAL TOURISM

Spirituality has been on the rise globally. Consequently, travels associated with this

activity have surfaced as a major boom to the existing tourism industry. Spiritual tourism

as an area of organized research is in its infant stage. In the recent times, a significant

increase in the research literature in the area of spiritual tourism has been observed. India is


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considered as one of the most spiritually enriched places on earth and has been the cradle

of spirituality for over 4,000 years (Pandey, 2010). India is the land of the Vedas and

temples. Its people, its infrastructure, and, in fact, its very soil, encourage and nurture

spiritualism, allowing religions to thrive, flourish and prosper. Spirituality generally

concerns itself with aligning the human will and mind with that dimension of life and the

universe that is harmonious and ordered. It is a fact that every major religion in the world,

as well as many of their off-shoots and facets, get support and nourishment in India. Many

of these religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism were conceived in

India, and others sought refuge in India after being persecuted in their own countries. Apart

from religions, numerous sages, philosophers and founders of religions also sought and

received sanctuary and enlightenment in India's soil and spirit. The trend continues even

today after so many years, the reason being as the people across the world veer towards the

capitalistic way of life, the quest for spirituality becomes even more urgent. Spirituality

encompasses intellectuality and a spiritual orientation based on faith, and it is also an

attitude towards life causing one to search for a meaning in life.

An analysis of published literatures in the broad area of spiritual / pilgrimage

tourism has been presented in Figure 2.5. It is observed that there has been a steep rise in

published literatures during the latter half of the present decade (2006–June 2010)

indicating the emergence of a potential area of research. Early research thrusts were

observed to be mostly concentrated on developing conceptual frameworks concerning

‘spirituality’, ‘spiritual travel’, ‘pilgrimage’, and ‘religious travel’ as seen by the higher

publications during the period 1992-1995 in the Figure. In the last few years, the major

research focus was shifted towards development of marketing strategy, drivers of spiritual

tourism, development of typology model and analysis of tourists’ perspectives and

attitudes. It has been observed that both ‘religious tourism’ and ‘pilgrimage’ are often

included within the broad umbrella of ‘spiritual tourism’. Delbecq (2009) reflects on the


38

evolution of spirituality and suggests areas of increasing understanding. The author also

emphasizes on the need for future development. Haq and Jackson (2009) contributed

towards the theory on spiritual tourism and marketing of spiritual tourism, by focusing on

Hajj as both an outstanding spiritual journey and a product/service. Different research

developments in spiritual tourism as reflected in published literatures have been presented

in Table 2.2. Major research focuses have been highlighted in the Table. It is observed that

the literatures analysed in the present work (1992 – June 2010) can further be categorised

into four groups based on the theme of the publications. These categories include

literatures on themes like conceptual, marketing, destination of spiritual tourists, and socio-

cultural issues. There has been a significant interest in marketing aspects of spiritual

tourism. However, investigations into the socio-cultural aspects of the spiritual/pilgrimage

tourism indicate diverse research interests. Further, it was also found that destination

related studies are relatively less.

Figure 2.5 Trends in publication of spiritual/pilgrimage tourism literature.

June 2010


39

Table 2.2 Major focuses in spiritual / pilgrimage tourism research.

Sl. No. Author(s) Major focus Gaps Identified / Remarks

A. Spiritual / Pilgrimage Tourism

1 Cohen (1979) Author illustrated the tendency to over

generalize, to propose universal models

and to conceive the dynamics of tourism

as a unilinear process; instead, the author

favoured a multiplicity of types, different

typologies and a multilinear approach to

the dynamics of tourism. The author

commented that there is no sociology of

tourism.

Socio-cultural and socio-

economical issues were not

addressed. Business aspects

were not explored. Gap needs

to be filled between abstract

theory and empirical research

in tourism.

2 Cohen (1992) A comprehensive discussion on

Pilgrimage centers. Examines the

concept of pilgrimage “center as an

excentric” as proposed by Victor Turner.

No systematic study of the

various pilgrimage centers was

conducted. Economic impact

on the country’s economy is

also not analysed.

3 Eade (1992) Explores various meanings and practices

concerning “pilgrim” and “tourist” at a

popular pilgrimage shrine in France.

Proper interpretation between

pilgrimage tourism is lacking.

4 Hudman and

Jackson (1992)

Examines pilgrimage related tourism

among members of the Mormon church

by tracing the development of the church

associated pilgrimage destination.

The study is limited to one site

only and hence more data is

required for further analysis.

5 Jackowski and

Smith (1992)

A detailed study on pilgrimage in

Poland, highlighting the developments,

and impact of pilgrimage on

infrastructure. The study predicts that

future of Poland depends upon economic

revitalization of both industries and

service sectors

No proper methodology for

data collection was defined.

The study is more of

conceptual in nature.

6 Nolan and Nolan

(1992)

Authors examine the problems related to

the conflicting interests of pilgrims and

No analytical study was carried

out to examine the problems


40

tourists; discusses management strategies

to minimize such conflicts.

related to the pilgrims and the

tourists.

7 Rinschede (1992) Religious tourism has been discussed at

length by categorizing into ‘short term’

and ‘long term’ religious tourism.

Characteristics of organizational forms

of religious tourism have also been

explained.

Analyses a concept.

8 Smith (1992) Pilgrim-tourist path has been redefined

as two parallel, inter-changeable lanes –

(1) the secular knowledge-based route of

Western science, and (2) the sacred road

of faith and belief. The guests, as the

author observes, could travel either lane,

or switch them, depending on their

personal need or motivation, and as

appropriate to time, place and cultural

circumstances.

A case based study.

9 Vukonic (1992) An attempt to relate religious belief and

tourism based on the study of experience

of a little known place Medjugorje in

Yugoslavia. The study reveals that

religious tourism would become

increasingly individualized.

The study is based on a small

place in Yugoslavia and more

of descriptive in nature.

Research is not properly

focused.

10 Gupta (1999) Examines some of the popular traditions

existing in the Indian religious places

that attracts quite a good number of

tourists and explores the possibilities of

using such traditions for making tourism

sustainable.

Methodology of the study was

not clear.

11 Garrod and Fyall

(2000)

Discusses the findings of a Delphi survey

of owners and managers across the

United Kingdom. Investigated the major

constraints and imperatives relating to

the long-term management to built

No new management

philosophy and practices were

adopted in the study.


41

heritage attractions. Three issues were

assessed to consider the significance in

assessing potential strategies for moving

heritage tourism toward sustainability.

12 Jewell and Crotts

(2002)

Analysis of the study revealed that most

respondents were looking for a satisfying

leisure experience where pleasure and

learning are complementary.

Hierarchical value method was used to

gain insights into the underlying

psychological of visitors any why they

visit a particular site over another.

The sample was small and was

limited to visitors to a single

site during a limited ten-day

period. The findings were

derived from the motives of

visitors to the heritage site and

thereby provided no insights as

to the important non-visitor

markets.

13 Poria et al.

(2003)

Challenges the idea that heritage tourism

is simply represented by tourists at

heritage attractions. Relationships among

four groups of variables (personal

characteristics, site attributes, awareness,

perceptions) and behavior (before,

during, and after) were investigated.

The study is limited to a few

sites/locations. Moreover the

study was confined to holy

books and Jewish faith as a

result the study was related to

only religion.

14 Mazumdar and

Mazumdar

(2004)

Authors claim that religion can play an

important role in place attachment and

they developed a conceptualized model

on religious place attachments. The

authors also discussed integrating the

complex issues of religion, place,

identity and attachment.

Research paper is based purely

on secondary data and no

analysis is carried out.

15 Schmidt and

Little Donna

(2005)

Reports on an exploration of the

existence and nature of spiritual leisure

experiences. A phenomenological

approach was adopted in this study to

explore individual’s lived experience of

spiritual leisure.

Focus was made only on time

and space which played a

leading role to engage the

human soul for spiritual works.

16 Mawa (2005) Reported a scientific study to evolve a

suitable marketing strategy for

It is purely a case based study

of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi


42

pilgrimage tourism. The study is based

on Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in

India. The author has studied the

marketing effectiveness and customer

satisfaction in respect to pilgrimage

tourism services.

Shrine in India.

17 Sharpley and

Sundaram (2005)

Explores the possibility of categorizing

the tourists based on their motives of

journey. Indentifies the continuum of

spirituality inherent in tourism based on

a study carried out in the Sri Aurobindo

Ashram located in South East India.

The work is based only on

exploratory study.

18 Culliford (2005) Author focuses on the concept that

Mental health is much more than the

absence of mental illness.

No noticeable analysis has

been carried out in this aspect.

19 Howard (2005) The author in his report discusses the

practice of sacred travel in the

Himalayan region. The study involve

considering the evolution of the practice

– from the elementary forms of

wandering ascetics to institutionalized

pilgrimage, to contemporary spiritual

tourism.

It focuses more on descriptive

view of research. As such no

research methodology has been

discussed.

20 Dasgupta et al.

(2006)

The authors highlight the impact of

pilgrim tourists at Gangasagar Island of

Sundarban Biosphere and also projected

the role of myth centering around it and

being one of the repository of great

Indian Cultural heritage.

The study is descriptive one.

21 Smith and Kelly

(2006)

Author’s research suggests that those

people who avail themselves of the

plethora of experiences available appear

to be not only on a tourist journey of

physical movement, but also on a tourist

journey towards greater self-awareness

No research methodology was

discussed and no mention of

instruments for data collection

was mentioned.


43

and contentment.

22 Xiao and Smith

(2006)

Number of trends in the growth of

tourism knowledge was observed in

terms of subject coverage over a span of

30 years; two meta-categories or

knowledge domains were also observed

to have emerged.

This analysis is based on a

single journal, which limits the

generalizability of the findings.

23 Haq and Jackson

(2006)

Proposed a new composite and

integrated Venn-diagram model of

spiritual tourist based on various

typologies from the theory of tourism.

Purely based on theoretical

concept.

24 Haq and Jackson

(2007)

Explores the relevance of Porter’s matrix

to the marketing of spiritual tourism in

Pakistan. The authors also observed

differentiation in strategy for inbound

and outbound tourists on the part of the

Government of Pakistan while analysing

Government’s control over the tourism

industry.

Only Porter’s matrix was

discussed and as such no

detailed research design

discussed.

25 Belhaseen et al.

(2008)

Enriches the theoretical debate on the

concept of authenticity, being one of the

key themes in the academic literature of

tourism by examining the relevance to

the experiences of pilgrims.

The work is more of subjective

in nature.

26 Gonzalez (2008) Examines the relationship between

existential intangible tourism and

personal identity.

Research methodology defines

a proper framework of the

study still many areas were

untouched.

27 Bandyopadhyay

et al. (2008)

Presented a comparative study of India’s

heritage representation by the Indian

Government and popular tourism media.

The study gives an insight into how

tourism is interconnected with the socio-

political dynamics governing India’s

contemporary state and society.

It is a case based study with no

concrete methodology.


44

28 Haq et al. (2008) Presents study on the marketing

strategies for spiritual tourism based

upon the views of the tourism operators

in Pakistan. A significant finding of the

study was that the Pakistani tourists

prefer to travel with families or friends

for a spiritual purpose which could be a

critical consideration while formulating

product or promotion strategies.

Quantification of qualitative

data has to be carried out and

interviewing the spiritual

tourists and other stake holders

will help in better comparisons.

29 Haq et al. (2008) Explores the relevance of marketing

strategies by Ansoff to the typology

model proposed earlier by Haq and

Jackson in 2006. Emphasized that

‘market development’ and ‘product

development’ strategies are critical for

making interested customers involved.

The study is qualitative in

nature; hence the findings of

the study cannot be quantified

30 Sharma et al.

(2008)

Explores the marketing potentials of

spiritual tourism in India vis-à-vis

traditional health care methods existing

in the country.

No research methodology was

discussed and no analysis has

been done.

31 Willson (2008) Explores the conceptual essences of

spirituality by reviewing the meaning of

spirituality across diverse disciplines and

investigates the relationship between

tourism and spirituality in a

‘reductionist’ manner. Author further

argues that ‘spiritual’ is a different

concept to ‘religious’, and that as

tourism is ‘another way we do life’.

A qualitative study.

32 Srivastava

(2009)

Study attempts to understand the

satisfaction indicator among the

international travelers relating to the

heritage sites of India. Findings suggest

that past travel experiences significantly

influence future destination selection.

Parameters regarding the

satisfaction level need to be

analysed in detail.


45

33 Poria and

Ashworth (2009)

Challenges the idea that heritage tourism

is simply represented by tourists at

heritage attractions and suggests that

perceptions more properly lie at its core.

Investigates the relationships among four

groups of variables - personal

characteristic, site attributes, awareness,

perceptions and behavior.

A research note; no research

design were focused.

34 Cochrane (2009) Examines the relevance of Javanese

spirituality for tourism. The author

observes a spirituality-driven strong

motivating factor in Javanese people for

visiting sacred sites. It was observed that

the domestic tourism in Asian countries

receives little research attention, whereas

such movements within the country are

significantly higher than overseas visits.

A case based study.

35 Collins-Kreiner

(2009)

The transformations undergone in the

research of pilgrimage and tourism have

been investigated. Opined that in the 21st

century, the differences between pilgrims

and tourists are fading. The author

observes that the literature on pilgrimage

and tourism does explore several key

themes in spite of incoherency in

research.

Research on this issues is

not sufficiently coherent,

much of the literature on this

subject does not explore

several key themes.

36 Haq and Jackson

(2009)

The work focuses on theory on spiritual

tourism and marketing strategy aspects

of spiritual tourism with reference to

Hajj segmenting the Pakistani Muslim

tourists into Pakistanis residing in

Pakistan and those in Australia.

The study is concerned with

only the outbound markets of

Australia and Pakistan. A

qualitative study based on

exploratory and explanatory

data administered on a

particular community. Semi

structured questions were used.

No statistical analysis has been

presented.


46

37 Lakshmi and

Ganesan (2010) Study was conducted in the context

of Tirupati Thirumala Balaji

Devasthanam, the most visited

temple in the world, to study the

customer delight in tourism as

influenced by destination image and

perceived value. The work is unique

in its type and focuses on spiritual

tourism.

It is a case based study and

research methodology and

design is not carried out.

38 Kanika Gupta

and Anju Gulla

(2010)

Authors identified the role of

internet/web services in spiritual

tourism and the challenges faced in

internet deployment and how they

could be overcome. Structured

questionnaires/interviews with open-

ended and closed-ended questions

was used for analysis. The study

focuses on the growing needs of

internet in spiritual tourism in India.

More focused on the IT

Infrastructure. Analysed the

implementation of IT in

spiritual tourism.

39 Haq and Wong

(2010)

Paper suggests a new dimension in

Islamic marketing and investigates

spiritual tourism as a new strategy for

marketing Islam as a religion.

Quantification of the findings

of this study needs to be done.

40 Vinnie (2010) The author reviews the question on

how consumer experience be

enhanced for spiritual and cultural

tourism in India.

Case based study.

41 Vinnie and

Gunjan (2010) The work discusses the tourism

potential for selected spiritual and

cultural sites and gives an overview

of the approach followed to assess

consumer experience at the locations.

Case based study and analyses

on the spiritual tourism

concept..


47

42 Willson (2010) The thesis aims to explore spirituality

and travel; specifically, the role of travel

in facilitating life purpose and meaning

in the lives of individuals. This study

takes a journey through a range of

conceptualizations and thinking about

spirituality amongst scholars.

The study is more of

descriptive nature.

B. Spiritual Tourism in Uttarakhand

1 Dixit (2005)

Categorization of tourists visiting

Uttarakhand has been reported. Effect of

seasonality in formulating the marketing

strategy has been highlighted.

Strategy with respect to

marketing of spiritual tourism

has not been discussed.

2 Husain (2007)

Promotional aspects of marketing

strategy of tourism industry in a tourist-

rich state in India have been analysed.

The study reveals that the tourists are

significantly influenced by the package

incentives offered by tour operators.

Product, price, branding of

location, infrastructural aspects

have not been discussed.

Economic analysis associated

with spiritual tourism has not

been presented.

3 Aggarwal et al.

(2008)

Developed various marketing strategies

to boost tourism in Rishikesh, India. The

work highlights the role of yoga and

spirituality in Indian tourism. The

authors also attempted to bring out the

motives of foreign tourists behind

visiting ashrams.

The economic analysis due to

spiritual tourism in Uttarakhand

has not been included. Study on

infrastructure issues was totally

excluded in the article.

4 Karar (2010)

Discussed the importance of Haridwar as

a potential spot for attracting tourists to

the state. Analysed at length the historical

and mythical aspects related to Haridwar

and why the place is being considered as a

sacred city.

Mostly a historical issue-based

publication that never looked

into the economical aspects

associated with tourism, or, in

particular, spiritual tourism. No

statistical analysis related to

spiritual tourism was presented.


48

2.3.1 Spiritual Tourism in India

India is spread with several spiritual destinations. A visit to them is considered

essential if one is on the path of self spiritual discovery. Actually, spiritual tours of India

enable one to nurture the spirituality within oneself by developing deep into the rich

spiritual history of the country. Spiritual tours of India take one on tours to several spiritual

destinations of the country which are much renowned for their religious and spiritual

significance. Scattered all over India, these places give the tourists the bliss and peace that

may have eluded them for long and which may have inspired them to visit the spiritually

and religiously rich India. Places and shrines like Golden Temple and Anandpur Sahib

(Amritsar); Varanasi, Mathura, and Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh); Somanth (Gujarat); Dargah

Khwaja Saheb (Ajmer); Rishikesh and Haridwar (Uttrakhand); Pushkar (Rajasthan);

Jagannath Puri (Orissa); Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh); and Bodh Gaya (Bihar) are just some

of the many top religious and spiritual destinations of India that inspire the religiously

inclined people from far off places to go on spiritual tours and discover the meaning of

their life and physical existence.

Spiritual tourism has extended the conventional concept ‘the harder the journey, the

better the reward’, to a wider concept of a desire for a change, relief from the dull daily life

and enthusiasm and divine nature for a common man. Accordingly, academic interests in

analysing different aspects of spiritual tourism as a new segment have been gaining

momentum. Spirituality has become an increasingly significant area in social, health and

business research (Haq et al., 2008). Travels to spiritual places have recorded a

phenomenal increase in the recent years. Believe in spirituality has caused people to travel

since long even with poor travelling and communication infrastructures. However,

scientific study on marketing aspects of spiritual tourism is very limited. Most of the

studies are case-based or demographic.


49

2.3.2 Spiritual Tourism in Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand nourishes a diverse and rich culture and monuments of historical

importance. Uttarakhand is truly a paradise on earth for tourists, not only for its scenic

beauty, fresh air, pure water, and chilling snow, but also for being the home of a number of

well-known spiritual places. While, it has been attracting tourists with its century old

spiritual places like Gongotri, Yamunotri, Haridwar etc., it is rapidly becoming a place of

interest for some spiritual gurus operating from the state with huge followers worldwide.

Consequently, the state as a place of spiritual activities is gaining importance everyday and

a well structured tourism marketing planning could provide a huge impact in the state’s

economy. Uttarakhand state is a home of different religions including the famous Hindu’s

Char Dham (Four Pilgrimage Destinations for Hindus) i.e. Gangotri, Yamunotri,

Kedarnath, Badrinath and the sacred Sikh pilgrimage of Hemkund, Lokpal, Nanakmata,

Meetha Reetha Sahib and Piran Kaliyar have attracted seekers for spiritual fulfillment to

this religious state. Uttarakhand state is known for fascinating tourist destinations in the

world, wherein millions of tourists and pilgrims come for religious and recreational

activities round the year.

2.3.3 Haridwar and Rishikesh as Spiritual Destinations

Uttarakhand nourishes a rich and diverse culture and houses monuments of

historical importance. An encouraging number of tourists both international and domestic

visit this state. Consequently, the state as a place of spiritual activities is gaining

importance everyday and a well structured tourism marketing planning could provide a

huge impact in the state’s economy. Thus, it is certain that branding Uttarakhand as a

spiritual destination will help its treasury get inflated by attracting more tourists to the

state.


50

Haridwar is situated at the foothills of the Himalayas, at the point where the sacred

river Ganges (called ‘Ganga’) reaches the plains. Haridwar is a holy city situated at the

base of Shivalik ranges of high Himalayas. The place, a district head quarter, can be

termed as the ‘spiritual capital’ of the state. The place is deeply encapsulated in to the

threads of Indian culture and civilization. Haridwar is the ultimate heaven for spiritual

solace and peace of the believers in Hinduism. It is one of the most ancient pilgrimage

centers in India that has been held in admiration from times immemorial. A visit to this

holy city, Haridwar is like stepping into a celestial world of admirable temples and

ashrams. It is the gateway to the Lord (Hari-Dwar), as the point of entry of Devbhumi and

Char Dham (four holy places – Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yumunotri in the

state) and hence acquires it name Haridwar. Millions of devotees and pilgrims flock here

from all over the world to take a holy dip in the river Ganga, which is believed to wash

away their sins or karma. Many Indians consider it a must to have a dip in the Ganga at

Haridwar in their life time. Karar (2010) has analysed at length the potentials of Haridwar

of being a tourist destination and its importance. The author mentioned the important

shrines/spots in and Haridwar and important festivals those attract tourists. Figure 2.6

illustrates the continually increasing number of tourists during the years 2006 – 2010 at

Haridwar as estimated by the state Tourism Department. In particular, during the last two

years of the period under consideration records a higher increase in the number of tourist

as can be observed from the Figure 2.6.

Rishikesh represents the gateway to the Himalayas in the Garhwal region of

Uttarakhand. Rishikesh, the ‘place of sages’, is an important pilgrim and spiritual centre on

the right bank of holy river Ganga. It also attracts a large number of people interested in

meditation, yoga and other spiritual aspects. It is also an important base for many

adventure sports including rafting and trekking. The temples here are visited by millions of

devotees from across the world. International Yoga Festival is held here every year which


51

attracts participation from across the world on the banks of the river Ganga. Thus, these

two places alone play an important role in the process of earning state’s revenue. The

major places of tourists’ attraction in the two spiritually important places (Haridwar and

Rishikesh) are listed in the Table 2.3. Festivals like Kumbh Mela and Kawar Mela in

Haridwar are some of the periodic but important events that attracts tourist in huge number

within a short span of time. A profile of both domestic and international tourists visiting

Rishikesh has been presented in Figure 2.7. A study conducted by the Department of

Tourism, Government of India, reveals that even the overnight tourists in these two places

during the period April 2005 – March 2006 stand at 41,099 (in Haridwar) and 24,818 (in

Rishikesh) respectively (Government of India, 2008).

Figure 2.6 Profile of tourists visiting Haridwar during 2006 – 2010 (Data source: UTDB, 2011).

Year

Number of

Tourist


52

Table 2.3 Important places and events in and around Haridwar and Rishikesh

Attributes Haridwar Rishikesh

Places of

Importance

Har ki Pauri, Mansa Devi Temple, Chandi Devi

Temple, Sapt Rishi Ashram, Pavan Dham, Bharat

Mata Temple, Lakshmi-Narayan Temple, Daksha

Mahadev Temple, Sati Kund, Bhimgoda Tank, Parad

Shivling, Gurukul Kangri University, Anandmayi

Ashram, Canal Centenary Bridge, Rajaji National

Park (Chilla), Patanjali Yogpeeth.

Triveni Ghat, Laxman

Jhoola, Ram Jhoola,

Bharat Mandir, Kailash

Niketan Temple,

Kunjapuri Temple,

Shatrughan Temple,

Vashisht cave.

Events of

Interest

Festivals like- Khumb mela, Kanwar mela, Somwati

Amavasya, Kartik Purnima etc.

International Yoga festival

Figure 2.7 Profile of tourists visiting Rishikesh during the last decade (Data source:

UTDB, 2011).

2.4 TOURISM AND ECONOMY

Tourism can be seen as a strong potential contributor to economic recovery in the

post global economic downturn. There is an urgency and necessity of cooperation to

Number of

Tourists

Year


53

realize mutual prosperity of the tourism industry in the region. Tourism is a simple

phenomenon that embraces cultural, economic and social exchanges. In India, many states

are formulating policies and programmes to cater to the growing demand of inbound

tourism. However, there are still infrastructural inadequacies that are constraining the

growth of tourism in India. Uttarakhand state is also known as the adventure and spiritual

capital of India, which are the other causes of attraction for the tourists to this place. The

number of tourist’s arrivals in India had shown a steady growth in the last decade.

India has been maintaining its identity as the hub of spirituality in spite of

inevitable changes in the society owing to phenomenal advancements in science and

technology globally. In the recent years, tourism has made people feel about its many fold

impacts, particularly on a state/country’s economy. Of late, tourism and its associated

economic impacts have taken place within a wider context of globalisation of the world

economy. However, there are still infrastructural inadequacies that are constraining the

growth of tourism in India. Further, tourism development needs to be pursued with a focus

on sustainability. The state of Uttarakhand, regarded as the ‘Devabhoomi’, offers a

plethora of highly sought after places of spirituality. Consequently, lion’s share of the

state’s tourism revenue is related to spiritual tourists. The growth rate of tourism sector of

India has been way above the world average in the last few years. The year 2006-2007 is

the fourth consecutive year of high growth in foreign tourist arrivals and foreign exchange

earnings from tourism. By the year 2020, tourism in India could contribute ` 8, 50,000

crore to the GDP (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2006). In Uttarakhand, the number

of tourists to the state, both inbound and outbound, has been increasing; although, the rate

of growth is very marginal. Table 2.4 shows the number of tourists visiting the state during

the period 2001 – 2006. The annual growth rate of domestic tourist visits in Uttarakhand

during the period 2001 – 2006 was 12.9% as against 14% growth at the national level.

Further, the international tourist growth rate achieved by Uttarakhand was 12.0% as


54

against 16.0% growth at the national level. It was found that 58.2% of the international

tourist’s visits were for holiday/ sightseeing, 21.9% for health/yoga, and about 19.4% for

pilgrimage/ religious functions. For domestic tourists, on the other hand, the main purpose

of 44.2% of the tourists’ visit was pilgrimage/religious while that of 43.6% was

holiday/sightseeing (Figure 2.8). The facts do indicate a significant influence on the state’s

economy and call for adopting appropriate strategies to attract tourists to the state.

Table 2.4 Tourist profile in Uttarakhand during 2001 – 2006 (Mittal et al. 2008)

Year Number of tourists (in millions) Domestic International Total

2001 9.55 0.04 9.60 2002 10.61 0.05 10.65 2003 10.84 0.06 10.89 2004 11.72 0.06 11.78 2005 14.22 0.08 14.29 2006 19.36 0.10 19.45

Figure 2.8 Segmentation of tourists according to the motivation of visit (Data source:

UTDB, 2011).

12%

44%

44%

Pilgrimage/Religious Sightseeing Others

(a) International tourist (b) Domestic tourist


55

Spiritual tourism is the largest tourist sector in India as more than 70% of the

domestic tourists come for religious purposes and 20% of the revenue in tourism industry

is generated by religious tourism (Cox and Kings, 2008). In the recent years, tourism has

made people feel about its many fold impacts, particularly on a state/country’s economy.

Tourism industry is one of the major segments of the Indian economy. It provides

employment to millions directly and indirectly and acts as a vehicle for infrastructure

development. Recognising the importance of the tourism industry, the Government of

India has taken many policy measures such as Tourism Policy 1982, Tourism plan of

action 1992 and Tourism Policy 1997. Through these policies, the government called for

effective coordination of public and private participation to achieve synergy in the

development of tourism.

2.4.1 Impact of Tourism on Indian Economy

The economic impact of any country or region is generally assessed in terms of its

contribution to foreign exchange earnings, value addition, employment generation in the

economy, and tax revenue to the government. Indian tourism has been experiencing

considerable lift during the last few years. According to a survey report of the Uttarakhand

Tourism Development Master Plan 2007–2022 (Ministry of Tourism, 2007), it was

reported that the international tourist traffic to India was 4.45 million in 2006 as against

2.54 million in 2001. The average annual rate of growth was 11.9 percent during the above

period which is quite significant. Consequently, the average spending per tourist by

international tourists also improved from US$ 1198 in 2001 to US$ 1476 in 2006. Further,

as reported by the same agency, there has been a phenomenal increase in the domestic

tourist visits also during last few years. Department of Tourism maintains that

approximately 461.16 million domestic tourist visits were recorded in accommodation


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establishments during 2006 as against 269.9 million in 2002, an encouraging increase of

approximately 71%.

The economic significance of tourism in the national economy was studied by the

NCAER for the year 2002-03 on behalf of the Central Ministry of Tourism. The study

reveals that about 2.78 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is contributed by

tourism. The contribution of tourism to GDP increases to 5.83 percent if indirect effects are

also taken into account. The direct employment generated by tourism in the economy is

about 4.59 percent. The share increases to 8.27 percent if indirect employment generation

is also considered.

2.5 MARKETING PRACTICES IN SPIRITUAL TOURISM

Haq and Jackson (2009) studied the importance of marketing strategy perspective

on Hajj (‘once a year Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca’) and examined the perceptions of

Muslims taking part in this significant spiritual activity. The study also identified the use of

modern marketing concepts and tools which were very helpful in providing a better

perspective of the enormous business aspects of Hajj. Brooksbank (1991) provided the

marketing practitioners with a “checklist” of all those marketing practices which have been

found to be commonly associated with high performing companies. The author designed a

model of the marketing process consisting of six key stages which are considered to be

very effective in marketing. Leng et al. (1989) conducted a Delphi survey in Singapore and

presented the future scenario of tourism industry of the country. The authors discussed

about the marketing implications prevailed at that period and recommended certain

suggestion for tourism development in the country for more attraction of inbound and

outbound tourists. Co´rdoba and Tepelus (2005) talked about the feasibility of creating

recognition schemes that could address not only the ecological implications, but also the

social and economic impacts of tourism activities. They tried to create voluntary


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instruments such as eco-labelling schemes and codes of conduct for tourism which has

been characterized by a strong environmental focus for up gradation of tourism industry in

the country of Costa Rica. Cochrane (2009) worked out in details about Javanese domestic

tourism and analysed that the strong motivating factor influencing the Javanese for visiting

sites such as caves or mountains peaks was their intention to pray or meditate. The author

also examines the relevance of Javanese spirituality for tourism. Ruston and Carson (1989)

had carefully addressed the problems relating to the internal and external environment of

the tourism market and opined that present marketing tools are adjusted according to the

new concepts of marketing for having effective management of such market. Adapting to

competition in the market, the strategy aims at image evolution of the marketers, their

product/service planning, positioning, presentation and promotion (Mawa, 2004).

According to the author, these are the central issues for a greater market share, customer

satisfaction and over-all marketing effectiveness, which have become vital for the success

and survival of the tourism industry. The marketers of such tourism industry need to pay

more attention to understand and satisfy consumer because today’s consumer has more

information about products and services, more alternatives to choose from, than ever

before. Adding a new domain in the literature, Haq and Wong (2010) had suggested

‘Islamic marketing’ and investigated spiritual tourism as a new strategy for marketing

Islam as a religion.

2.5.1 Marketing Strategies

Toor (2009) listed some key practices of marketing strategies and its

implementation in the fast technological world. The growth of International Tourism and

the marketing role of National Tourism Organizations (NTO) focus on research on

varieties of areas. Chandra and Menezes (2001) identified and portrayed multivariate

techniques most relevant to marketing research related to the key components of the


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marketing strategy of NTOs. They emphasized on the areas for future research in this

context. Emphasizing the effect of seasonality in formulating the marketing strategy, Dixit

(2005) observes that the products and services of Tourism Industry in Uttarakhand face

seasonal fluctuations of demand. The problem of seasonality is resulted mainly due to

climatic conditions, public holidays and attitude of tourism operators and tourists towards

the destination. The author concluded that the public sector and private sectors both have

to cooperate with each other to tackle the problem of seasonality. Some of the effective

marketing practices to attract number of tourists include the following marketing

strategies: Product strategies, Pricing strategies, Promotional Strategies and Place

Strategies.

2.5.2 Identification of Marketing Practices of Spiritual Tourism in Uttarakhand

Travels to spiritual places have recorded a phenomenal increase in the recent years.

Belief in spirituality has caused people to travel since long even with poor travelling and

communication infrastructures. However, scientific study on marketing aspects of spiritual

tourism is very limited. In Indian context, sufficient literature is not available regarding

marketing strategies covering all the spiritual places. In a recently published work, Mawa

(2004) has reported a scientific study to evolve a suitable and effective marketing strategy

for pilgrimage tourism. The study is based on Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in India. The

author has studied the marketing effectiveness and customer satisfaction in respect to

pilgrimage tourism services. Karar (2010) has discussed in his report regarding the

potentiality of Haridwar as a spiritual tourist spot in Uttarakhand.

It is generally seen that Domestic tourism receives little research attention, yet

movements within the people’s own country far outnumber overseas visits. The

significance of many sites pre-dates modern religions, and they are linked to continuing

awareness of a spiritual dimension of everyday life. Aggarwal et al. (2008) developed


59

various marketing strategies to boost tourism in Rishikesh, India. The work highlighted the

role of yoga and spirituality in Indian tourism. The authors also attempted to bring out the

motives of foreign tourists behind visiting ashrams. The study identifies some basic

features for spiritual and yoga tourism. Most important of these features are that the

foreign tourists are not looking for luxury but arduous journeys to meet the divine goal or

simple life, which makes traveling easier.

Marketing turns out to be a science of manipulation. All the tools and techniques of

Brand Building and Consumer Behavior turn out to be instruments of manipulation. Yadav

(2007) had put an effort to apply spiritual principles in society and day to day life. He

analyses that true happiness is not to be found in objects but within. The author points out

that modern consumer culture are not the product of inner integration but of inner

fragmentation. Mawa (2004) had opined that spiritual tourist social background, their

specific time for travel to spiritual destinations and their economic constraints determine

the need for transport, accommodation, food, catering, shopping etc during their journey to

the spiritual places. Thus a pilgrimage destination and religious centre, according to the

author, ought to have all such facilities and religious requirements which not only meet the

pilgrim’s religious and spiritual needs but keep generating a desire in them to visit the

destinations time and again with an increase in the average length of their stay. Such a

pilgrimage destination generates immense market potential for the aforesaid tourism

service related businesses. The marketing strategy for spiritual tourism is a continuous

process of planned action for the development, improvement, maintenance, diversification,

monitoring and promotion of business in such goods and services as are required by the

spiritual tourists during the whole of their journey so that the spiritual tourist’s word of

mouth prove to be a sound channel of marketing communication and feedback for ensuring

further time and cost effective tourism services to them. Such a marketing strategy has

become very challenging, competitive and forward–looking due to fast improvement in the


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services by the industry in the light of fast changes in the nature and extent of tourist

requirements backed up by ongoing substantial increase in their purchasing power and

conceptual reinterpretation of the spiritual tourism. A correct strategy well in time and

adjustable to the turbulent and changing external and internal environment is essential for

excelling in this pilgrimage tourism market and ideal for staying ahead of the game (Doyle,

1995). Marketing of goods and services in and around the pilgrimage destination focuses

on the customer, environmental sensitivity and relative competition in the pilgrimage

tourism market (Mawa, 2004). Therefore, every visitor being different in socio-cultural

background needs to be served with tailor-made services, which ought to be regularly

evaluated and improved upon in terms of customer feed-back (Moutinho, 1993).

The nature of spiritual tourists to the spiritual places in Uttarakhand like Haridwar,

Rishikesh, Char Dham etc. reveals that these destinations not only attracts purely religious

visitors but also non-spiritual visitors who have different requirements, tastes and

preferences with respect to different services provided while traveling to the these religious

places. The marketing of such services and the related customer satisfaction plays a very

important role in the development of business in the pilgrimage destination. No doubt,

these spiritual and non-spiritual visitors have different expectations while visiting the

destinations and in return they interpret their experience and satisfaction as per their own

considerations and visualizations. If they are satisfied, their positive word of mouth

generates more potential visitors, if not, they will speak negative and shatter the image of

services at the destination thereby affecting its business.

Very recently, pilgrimage destinations are being considered an important part of

tourism market and thus they are in the process of development for the generation of more

income and employment in the area. The service providers at these particular destinations

have to take into consideration the religious and non-religious requirements of the visitors

while marketing their products and services. Although religious motives always make the


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tourists from all over the country to visit the holy land Devbhoomi, the non-spiritual

visitors also need to be motivated by the continued marketing. This can be achieved by

maketing of services and products, maintenance, diversification and promotion of the

destinations and their surroundings. All these developments and marketing exercises have

to be carried out keeping in view the type of travel trend received reroute to these different

holy sites. Thus the marketing strategy for Uttarakhand has to be focused mainly on its

visitors, their travel motive, the time of visit, the services and products required by them

during their travel. It has to be forward-looking and adjustable to the fast changing

environment and changes in the tourism industry with reference to the spiritual tourists. In

a joint investigation by the Government of India, Government of Uttarakhand, United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Tourism Organisation (WTO),

identified the following broad issues in the marketing of Uttarakhand as a tourism

destination (Government of India, 2008):

1. Lack of awareness of Uttarakhand as a tourism destination,

2. Ineffective branding of the state,

3. Lack of marketing strategy and expensive annual campaigns which are not

sufficiently focused,

4. Weak statistical system, and

5. Development and operational issues.

In the light of the aforesaid discussion, the major focus in pilgrimage tourism

marketing strategy is on customer satisfaction (Bonoma, 1984) with respect to pilgrimage

related products and services like accommodation, food services, transportation, recreation

and delivery of resident-oriented products and services like infrastructure facilities. In

order to retain the present customers and attract potential visitors, the marketers at such

destination work upon the objectives like – ‘how important a visitor/pilgrim/tourist is?’,

‘What are the main services regarding the journey to the spiritual places?’, ‘What are the


62

changing expectations in the spiritual tourism market?’, and thereby, assessing and

developing the required strategy of customer relationship (Middleton, 2001; Nicolaud,

1998). Therefore, ‘tourist’ and ‘spiritual tourism services’ like accommodation,

transportation, retailing, infrastructure, information technology etc. (Gronross, 1989) are

the major aspects for developing the spiritual tourism market.

It is in this context that study has been undertaken for formulating a marketing

strategy on the basis of the present experience of the spiritual tourists about the various

goods and services they buy during their visits so that the tourists continue to enjoy better

services adequate with the prices charged by the service – providers.

2.6 BARRIERS IN SPIRITUAL TOURISM

Many authors (Jafari, 2003; Sharpley and Sundaram, 2005; Haq et al., 2008; Aref

et al., 2009) and reports (Government of India, 2008) have analysed the possible barriers in

the growth of the tourism industry in general. Issues highlighting the barriers in spiritual

tourism, in particular, are not available with reference to the state of Uttarakhand.

However, in the context of the literature review presented in the above mentioned sections

and the feedback and perceptions of the tourists interviewed during the course of the

investigation, few major barriers in the growth of spiritual tourism in the state of

Uttarakhand can be summarized in the Table 2.5. An attempt has also been made to

categorise these barriers in some broad segments as presented in the Table.

2.7 RESEARCH POTENTIAL IN SPIRITUAL TOURISM

Tourism research is considered as a matured area of research which has received

adorable attention from the researchers. Several authors have reported works on different

aspects of tourism research including many geo-specific, sector-specific case-based studies

and theoretical models. In this section, a review of research carried out in various areas in

tourism, and published in some of the leading journals and conference proceedings has


63

been presented. But it was found out from the available literature that research aspect in

Marketing strategy of spiritual tourism still lays in its infancy.

Table 2.5 Barriers in spiritual tourism with special reference to Uttarakhand.

Sl. No. Probable Barriers Segment

1 Lack of proper road, rail, ropeway, air ports, helipads etc. Infrastructure

2 Lack of proper travel means (high speed/luxury bus/taxi

services, quality train services, frequent air connectivity,

hired air taxi services etc.)

3 Lack of good hotels, guest houses, dormitories,

restaurants, hygienic foods etc.

4 Lack of awareness about the spiritual spots in the state Information

/Communication 5 Lack of advertisement and media coverage

6 Lack of proper telephone, internet, FAX facilities

7 Lack of Branding Commercial

8 Lack of well-organised tourism network (tour operators at

every places, package tours, associated sight-seeing

facilities etc.)

9 Not easily accessible locations Geographical

10 Extreme weather conditions

11 Language (use of local languages) Cultural

2.8 GAPS IN LITERATURE

Innovation research in tourism is a young phenomenon and (Hjalager, 2010) issues

are only gradually being elaborated in theory and illuminated by empirical evidence.

Tourism has been recognized as one of the major industries of many countries. Importance

of tourism marketing and promotion has been established. As observed by many

researchers tourism marketing strategy and tactical planning activity is multifaceted and

require an interdisciplinary and integrated approach. Formulation and implementation of

effective national marketing strategy for tourism is a significant step that yields to a

country’s economy. India being rich in its cultural heritage, also a place of diverse


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spirituality becomes a natural home for spiritual tourism. The state Uttarakhand, which is

naturally blessed with locations considered ideal for spiritual activities, is in fact home to

many spiritual activities and consequently known as ‘Devabhumi’. This state attracts

tourists from every part of the world. However, hardly any literature is available on

spiritual tourism. A systematic study in this area will, thus, help understanding the present

status of spiritual tourism in India and will contribute in formulating a suitable marketing

strategy. Some of the notable gaps in the existing literature can be summarised as follows:

Marketing of tourism in India as a subject of scientific research is in its infancy.

There is hardly any literature focused on spiritual or pilgrimage tourism.

There is no structured and scientific literature available on analysis of potentials of

spiritual places in Uttarakhand state of India as places of tourists’ interest.

Reports on product mix strategy in tourism marketing also lack in identifying

spiritual tourism as one of the entities.

Destination marketing has been recognized worldwide as one of the important

aspects in marketing of tourism. Some studies have been reported about India as a

whole, Varanasi (India) and Northeastern region of India. In spite of having

enormous potential, no scientific approach has been seen regarding destination

marketing of various spiritual places in Uttarakhand.

Literatures are available establishing effectiveness of tourism planning, national

marketing strategies for tourism. However, the data and frameworks are published

in context of countries other than India. No study has been reported on

Uttarakhand.

Tourism marketing planning models specific to places other than India have been

proposed, however, no such attempts has been reported based on Indian spiritual

tourism.


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Thus literature covering different phenomenon of Concept and Scope of Tourism,

Tourism Marketing, Marketing Strategies in Tourism, Service Marketing and Spiritual

Tourism Marketing has been reviewed to identify the research gap to be bridged by the

study. The studies covered services and tourism marketing in general and spiritual tourism

marketing in particular. Different tourism services, viz. hotels, food & beverages,

transportation, hospitality, shopping, airlines, tour and attraction, its infrastructure etc. have

been studied by different authors but no study has taken these services together as a full

package for the formulation of both service-wise marketing and the strategy for the whole

spiritual tourism service package.

Keeping in view the above analysis on research gap, the present study has been

designed to analyse the marketing strategy for spiritual tourism in Uttarakhand based on the

data of Haridwar and Rishikesh. Emphasis has been given to some aspects of marketing

strategies, promotion, in particular, considering the operational scopes of the study.

2.9 SUMMARY

Tourism is an activity inherently associated with the growth of human civilization.

The economic and commercial aspects of it have been realized and put into practice much

later. Today, tourism has been even the major revenue earning sector in many countries

across the world. There has been a phenomenal increase in spiritual travelers in the recent

years owing to generic changes in the people’s attitude towards spirituality. Ripple effect

of this change has also been observed in the state’s economy as well as in academic

research. Literatures in the field of spiritual tourism, along with other sector-based

tourisms (adventure tourism, eco tourism, medical tourism, wedding tourism etc.), have

been on rise significantly. A higher trend in reporting case-based studies (geo-specific,

shrine specific etc.), rather than on general approach, have been observed. The current

study presents a brief review of literatures concerning tourism research, in general, and


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with a focus on spiritual tourism. Major thematic classifications in tourism research

presented by different authors have been analysed. A new model depicting general

classification of tourism literatures including spiritual tourism has been proposed. Growth

of spiritual tourism as a promising research domain has been discussed with the available

literatures. Gaps in the available literature, with reference to Uttarakhand state of India, in

particular, and research potentials in the area have been indicated. No study has been

carried out regarding the marketing aspects of spiritual tourism. Infrastructure has been

reported as one of the important aspects in spiritual tourism marketing. Detailed analysis

on economic implications of spiritual tourism in Uttarakhand has not so far been presented.

The review concludes by drawing attention to the needs for challenging explorative and

qualitative researches in the area of spiritual tourism. Case study based investigations will

reveal further facts about the specific spiritual activity centers and will help formulating

tourism management strategies. Major conclusions of the present review of literature can

be summarised as:

• Researches in the sector-based tourism are increasing significantly in the recent years.

• There is a remarkable economic implication associated with the growth in spiritual

tourism in the Uttarakhand state of India.

• There has been a substantial increase in research interest in the area of spiritual/

pilgrimage tourism, especially, in the current decade. Increase in the published

literature in the second half of the current decade is almost four times that of the first

five years.

• Spiritual tourism as a subject of scientific research is still in its infancy. Many aspects

like infrastructural development and requirement, destination analysis, segmentation of

destination, demographic segmentation of tourists are yet to be explored well.

review of literatureshodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/41589/2/chapter-2.pdf · could be of...

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